Parade spreads patriotic warmth on chilly Veterans Day morning

A group of U.S. Navy veterans are pulled down Massachusetts Street during the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.

With cane in hand, Al Stuber was ready to walk the five blocks of the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade on Sunday, although he had thought he might have a different role in the event.

“I was going to do the flyover, but I got beat out by a tanker,” he said.

A Kansas Air National Guard refueling tanker from Forbes Air Base in Topeka got the parade underway at about 11 a.m. Sunday with a low pass over downtown Massachusetts Street. At about the same time, bells were ringing throughout the area to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended fighting in World War I.

Congress adopted a resolution in 1926 recognizing Nov. 11 as Armistice Day to honor WWI veterans, and it was renamed Veterans Day in 1954, according to the U.S. House of Representative history, art and archives website.

Stuber said he has added patriotic zest to many events by releasing red, white and blue smoke from the plane he keeps at Lawrence Municipal Airport, and he was prepared to do so Sunday before the event’s organizers arranged for the tanker. But he was happy to be able to march in the parade with the help of the cane he’s used since getting “busted up” in a training flight as a Navy pilot during his enlistment from 1967 to 1970, Stuber said. Because of that, he didn’t see duty in Vietnam like many of his friends, but he nonetheless appreciated the parade and the message it sends to veterans, he said.

photo by: Nick Krug

A U.S. Army veteran is chauffeured down Massachusetts Street in a classic car during the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.

“It says ‘Welcome home,'” he said.

Standing at the corner of Seventh and Massachusetts streets before the parade and waving one of the many small American flags handed out at the event, Dianna Pennewell, of Lawrence, said Veterans Day was special to her and her family.

“I’m trying hard not to cry,” she said. “I always get emotional. My family has a military tradition. Great grandfather, grandfather, father and son all served in the military.”

photo by: Nick Krug

The University of Kansas Marching Jayhawks proceed down Massachusetts Street during the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.

There were about 80 entrants in the parade of floats, marchers, antique and vintage cars, motorcycles, firetrucks and military vehicles to entertain the crowd along Massachusetts Street, said Cindy Lynn, executive board secretary of the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade Association.

Lynn said she was pleased with the number of parade entrants and the size of the crowd that stood watching on a chilly morning.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s been a special year with the 100th anniversary. It doesn’t get any better.”

photo by: Nick Krug

Isaac King, of Overland Park, watches the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade with his pug, Gus, on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018 along Massachusetts Street.

The parade was very meaningful to her, said Debbie Austin, of Ottawa, as she marched the parade route. Now the president of Gold Star Mothers of Kansas, her son Shane Robert Austin, of Edgerton, was killed Oct. 8, 2006, in Iraq.

“It’s heartwarming when the community comes out to remember their service and honor them,” she said.

photo by: Nick Krug

An observer waves a flag as a line of classic cars carrying veterans proceeds along Massachusetts Street during the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.

photo by: Nick Krug

Members of the Patriot Guard drive south on Massachusetts Street during the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.

photo by: Nick Krug

Adam Kasson, of McLouth, holds a flag as members of the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade proceeds south along Massachusetts Street on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.

photo by: Nick Krug

The University of Kansas Marching Jayhawks proceed down Massachusetts Street during the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.

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